Maine Bar cheat sheet

Subject-matter jurisdiction: federal question under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 requires a federal issue on the face of a well-pleaded complaint; diversity under § 1332 requires complete diversity and amount in controversy exceeding $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs.

Personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction exists where defendant is 'at home' (incorporation or principal place of business for corporations; domicile for individuals); specific jurisdiction requires purposeful availment, claim arising from or relating to contacts, and reasonableness under fair play and substantial justice.

Venue: proper in a judicial district where any defendant resides (if all reside in same state), where a substantial part of events occurred, or if no other district, where any defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction; forum non conveniens and § 1404 transfer are discretionary.

Erie doctrine: in diversity cases, federal courts apply state substantive law and federal procedural law; if a federal rule directly conflicts with state practice, the federal rule governs if valid under the Rules Enabling Act.

Pleading: under Rule 8(a), a claim for relief must contain a short and plain statement of grounds for jurisdiction, a short and plain statement of the claim showing entitlement to relief, and a demand for relief; Twombly/Iqbal plausibility standard applies.

Summary judgment under Rule 56 is proper when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law; movant must cite to particular parts of materials in the record.

Claim preclusion requires a final judgment on the merits, same parties or privies, and same claim (transactional test); issue preclusion requires actually litigated and necessarily decided issue, final judgment, and same party against whom estoppel is asserted had full and fair opportunity to litigate.

Class actions under Rule 23: numerosity, commonality, typicality, adequacy of representation; must also satisfy one of 23(b)(1), (2), or (3); 23(b)(3) requires predominance and superiority and gives opt-out rights.

Standing: plaintiff must allege injury in fact (concrete and particularized, actual or imminent), causation (traceable to defendant's conduct), and redressability (likely to be redressed by favorable decision); third-party standing requires close relationship and obstacle to self-advocacy.

State action doctrine: Constitution generally restricts government action; private conduct is not subject to constitutional limits unless there is significant state involvement (public function, entanglement, or encouragement).

Due process: procedural due process requires notice and opportunity to be heard before deprivation of life, liberty, or property; Mathews v. Eldridge balancing of private interest, risk of erroneous deprivation, and government interest.

Substantive due process: economic regulations reviewed under rational basis; fundamental rights (marriage, procreation, contraception, travel, voting, privacy) reviewed under strict scrutiny; abortion regulations under undue burden standard (Casey) as modified by Dobbs (returning to rational basis).

Equal protection: suspect classifications (race, national origin, religion, alienage) trigger strict scrutiny (compelling interest, narrowly tailored); gender triggers intermediate scrutiny (important interest, substantially related); other classifications rational basis.

First Amendment speech: content-based restrictions subject to strict scrutiny; content-neutral time, place, and manner regulations must be narrowly tailored to serve significant government interest and leave open ample alternative channels.

Commerce Clause: Congress may regulate channels of interstate commerce, instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and activities substantially affecting interstate commerce; post-Lopez, noneconomic intrastate activity requires jurisdictional hook or comprehensive regulatory scheme (Raich).

Dormant Commerce Clause: state law that discriminates against interstate commerce is per se invalid unless state can show legitimate local purpose that cannot be served by reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives; nondiscriminatory laws balanced under Pike.

Presidential powers: executive orders based on express or implied congressional authorization have force of law; without authorization, president may act only if consistent with congressional will and within independent constitutional authority (Youngstown).

Formation: mutual assent (offer and acceptance) plus consideration; offer must be definite (parties, subject matter, price, quantity, time) and communicated; acceptance must be unequivocal and under common law mirror image rule; UCC 2-207 allows additional terms between merchants unless material alteration or objection.

Consideration: bargained-for exchange; detriment to promisee or benefit to promisor; adequacy not required; past consideration and moral obligation generally insufficient; promissory estoppel requires promise, reasonable reliance, injustice without enforcement.

Statute of Frauds: writing required for marriage, year (cannot be performed within one year), land, executor, surety, sale of goods over $500 (UCC 2-201); exceptions: specially manufactured goods, admission, part payment, merchant confirmation.

Parol evidence rule: bars prior or contemporaneous oral agreements that contradict or vary integrated written terms; exceptions: ambiguity, fraud, mistake, condition precedent, course of dealing/performance, usage of trade.

UCC gap fillers: price = reasonable price at time of delivery; place of delivery = seller's place of business; time for shipment = reasonable time; open quantity = output or requirements in good faith.

Material breach vs. minor breach: material breach excuses nonbreaching party's performance and allows damages; minor breach requires substantial performance and allows damages but not suspension.

Anticipatory repudiation: clear and unequivocal statement or act indicating inability or unwillingness to perform; nonbreaching party may treat as breach and sue immediately or await performance; retraction possible if not materially changed position.

Remedies: expectation damages (benefit of bargain), reliance, restitution; UCC buyer's remedies include cover, market price damages, incidental and consequential; seller's remedies include resale, market price, lost profits; liquidated damages enforceable if reasonable forecast and difficult to estimate.

Actus reus: voluntary act or omission where legal duty exists (statute, contract, relationship, voluntary assumption, creation of peril); status alone cannot be punished.

Mens rea: common law categories: purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently; specific intent requires intent to achieve result; general intent requires intent to commit act; transferred intent applies to unintended victims.

Murder: unlawful killing with malice aforethought (intent to kill, intent to inflict serious bodily harm, reckless indifference to human life, felony murder); first degree if premeditated or felony murder; second degree otherwise.

Felony murder: killing during commission of inherently dangerous felony (BARRK: burglary, arson, rape, robbery, kidnapping); limitations: proximate cause, agency theory, redline rule, merger doctrine.

Voluntary manslaughter: murder mitigated by adequate provocation (heat of passion); involuntary manslaughter: reckless or negligent killing or misdemeanor manslaughter.

Defenses: self-defense (reasonable belief in imminent unlawful force, proportional); defense of others; defense of habitation; duress (not available for homicide); necessity; insanity (M'Naghten, irresistible impulse, Durham, ALI); infancy; entrapment.

Fourth Amendment: searches and seizures require warrant based on probable cause unless exception (search incident to arrest, automobile, plain view, consent, exigent circumstances, stop and frisk under Terry); exclusionary rule with exceptions (good faith, inevitable discovery, attenuation).

Fifth Amendment: privilege against self-incrimination applies to testimonial evidence; Miranda warnings required for custodial interrogation; public safety exception; waiver must be voluntary, knowing, intelligent; Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches at formal proceedings.

Trial rights: speedy trial, jury trial for serious offenses, confrontation, compulsory process, effective assistance of counsel (Strickland two-prong); double jeopardy prohibits retrial after acquittal or conviction, except hung jury or mistrial.

Relevance: evidence is relevant if it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable and the fact is of consequence; relevant evidence may be excluded if probative value is substantially outweighed by danger of unfair prejudice, confusion, misleading jury, undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence (Rule 403).

Character evidence: generally inadmissible to prove conduct; exceptions: criminal defendant may offer evidence of pertinent trait, prosecution may rebut; homicide victim's character for peacefulness; character evidence in civil cases when character is essential element (defamation, negligent entrustment).

Hearsay: out-of-court statement offered to prove truth of matter asserted; exclusions: prior inconsistent statements under oath, prior consistent statements, identification, opposing party's statements (admissions), co-conspirator statements.

Hearsay exceptions (declarant availability immaterial): present sense impression, excited utterance, then-existing mental/emotional/physical condition, medical diagnosis/treatment, recorded recollection, business records, public records, ancient documents, market reports, learned treatises, judgment of prior conviction.

Hearsay exceptions (declarant must be unavailable): former testimony, dying declaration (homicide or civil), statement against interest, statement of personal/family history, forfeiture by wrongdoing.

Confrontation Clause: testimonial hearsay inadmissible unless declarant unavailable and defendant had prior opportunity to cross-examine; nontestimonial hearsay governed by hearsay rules.

Impeachment: prior inconsistent statements (under oath subject to perjury), bias, sensory deficiency, reputation for truthfulness, prior convictions (felony or crime involving dishonesty, subject to Rule 403), specific instances of conduct on cross if probative of truthfulness.

Privileges: attorney-client (confidential communication for legal advice, crime-fraud exception), physician-patient (federal common law recognizes but limited), psychotherapist-patient (Jaffee), spousal (confidential marital communications and testimonial privilege in criminal cases), clergy, government deliberative process.

Authentication: witness with knowledge, distinctive characteristics, voice identification, handwriting, ancient documents, public records, process or system; self-authenticating documents (official publications, newspapers, trade inscriptions, notarized documents, commercial paper).

Estates: fee simple absolute (potentially infinite duration), fee tail (abolished in most states), life estate (measured by life of another), fee simple defeasible (determinable, subject to condition subsequent, executory interest); future interests: reversion, possibility of reverter, right of entry, remainder (vested or contingent), executory interest.

Concurrent estates: tenancy in common (distinct shares, no right of survivorship), joint tenancy (equal shares, right of survivorship, four unities: time, title, interest, possession), tenancy by the entirety (spouses, right of survivorship, unity of person).

Landlord-tenant: leasehold estates (term of years, periodic tenancy, tenancy at will, tenancy at sufferance); implied warranty of habitability (residential); constructive eviction; security deposits; rent control; assignment vs. sublease.

Easements: affirmative or negative; appurtenant or in gross; created by express grant/reservation, implication (prior use, necessity), prescription, estoppel; termination by merger, release, abandonment, prescription, estoppel, end of necessity.

Covenants and equitable servitudes: covenant requires writing, intent, touch and concern, privity (horizontal and vertical); equitable servitude requires intent, touch and concern, notice; remedies: damages for covenant, injunction for servitude.

Recording acts: race, notice, race-notice; bona fide purchaser for value without notice prevails over prior unrecorded interests; inquiry notice, record notice, actual notice; shelter rule.

Mortgages: lien theory vs. title theory; foreclosure (judicial or nonjudicial); priority (first in time, purchase money mortgage priority); deficiency judgment; redemption (equitable and statutory); anti-deficiency statutes.

Zoning: Euclidian zoning (use, height, area restrictions); nonconforming uses; variances (use and area); special exceptions; spot zoning; amortization; regulatory takings (Penn Central factors, Lucas per se rule, Nollan/Dolan exactions).

Deeds: requirements: writing, signature of grantor, identification of parties, words of grant, description of land, delivery and acceptance; types: warranty (general and special), bargain and sale, quitclaim; recording and marketable title.

Intentional torts: battery (harmful or offensive contact with intent), assault (apprehension of imminent harmful/offensive contact), false imprisonment (confinement within boundaries), trespass to land (physical invasion), trespass to chattels (interference with personal property), conversion (substantial interference with dominion).

Defenses to intentional torts: consent, self-defense, defense of others, defense of property, necessity (public and private), arrest, shopkeeper's privilege.

Negligence: duty (reasonable person standard, special relationships, affirmative duty to act if special relationship, contract, voluntary assumption, creation of peril), breach, actual cause (but-for), proximate cause (foreseeable intervening causes), damages (actual harm).

Professional standard: doctors, lawyers, accountants must exercise skill and knowledge of ordinary member of profession in good standing in similar community; expert testimony usually required; informed consent.

Strict liability: abnormally dangerous activities (factors: high degree of risk, likelihood of harm, inability to eliminate risk with reasonable care, not common usage, inappropriate location, value to community); wild animals; products liability (manufacturing defect, design defect, warning defect).

Products liability theories: negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty (express and implied merchantability/fitness); defenses: misuse, assumption of risk, comparative fault, state of the art, preemption.

Nuisance: private nuisance (substantial, unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment of land); public nuisance (unreasonable interference with right common to public); remedies: damages, injunction, coming to the nuisance not a complete defense.

Defamation: defamatory statement of fact, publication, identification, damages (unless libel per se or slander per se); constitutional limits: public official/plaintiff must prove actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard); private plaintiff must prove fault at least negligence for actual damages, actual malice for presumed/punitive.

Damages: compensatory (economic and noneconomic), punitive (gross negligence or intentional), nominal; comparative negligence (pure, modified, 50% or 51% bar); contributory negligence (complete bar, except last clear chance); joint and several liability; collateral source rule.

MPT format: two 90-minute tasks, each with a file (facts, documents, transcripts) and a library (cases, statutes, regulations); task requires drafting a legal document (memo, brief, letter, contract provision, will, complaint, closing argument).

Scoring: factual analysis, legal analysis, use of authority, organization, tone, and compliance with instructions; no outside law is required; all necessary rules are in the library.

Time management: allocate approximately 45 minutes to read file and library, 30 minutes to outline and draft, 15 minutes to review and polish; do not spend excessive time on any one document.

Fact gathering: identify legally significant facts, resolve inconsistencies, note missing facts; use file documents to support factual assertions; do not invent facts.

Legal analysis: apply library rules to facts; analogize and distinguish cases; synthesize rules from multiple authorities; address counterarguments; conclude clearly.

Format compliance: follow specific instructions (e.g., 'draft a memo to the partner', 'prepare a letter to client', 'write an objective memorandum'); include proper headings, citations to library materials, and signature block if required.

Objective vs. persuasive writing: objective memo predicts outcome and analyzes both sides; persuasive brief argues client's position; letter to client uses plain language and explains legal concepts.

Common tasks: legal memorandum, appellate brief, trial brief, client letter, demand letter, contract, will, statute of limitations analysis, complaint, motion, jury instructions, settlement agreement.